Three chip designers sold their company and started over to build India's commercial quantum computer

Most entrepreneurs dream of building one successful company. Sujoy Chakravarty, Ravi Mehta and Biman Chattopadhyay did that, sold it to a global technology giant, and then chose a path that was far more uncertain—building a quantum computer in India. Instead of taking the conventional route after a successful exit, the three semiconductor veterans spent months studying one of the world's most complex technologies. That decision eventually led to the creation of Quanfluence, a Bengaluru-based startup that is now among the handful of Indian companies developing commercial quantum computing systems. Their story is not just about entrepreneurship. It is about curiosity, deep engineering and the belief that India can build frontier technologies for the world.

They left successful careers to solve a harder problem

Before entering quantum computing, the founders had already built impressive careers in the semiconductor industry. Sujoy Chakravarty, Ravi Mehta and Biman Chattopadhyay worked together for more than a decade at Texas Instruments, gaining expertise in chip design and semiconductor engineering. In 2012, they co-founded Silicon and Beyond, a company specialising in high-speed semiconductor intellectual property (IP). Six years later, the company was acquired by Synopsys, one of the world's leading electronic design automation firms. For many founders, that would have marked the peak of their entrepreneurial journey. Instead, they began asking a much bigger question: Could India build its own commercially viable quantum computer?Six months in a library changed everything Following the acquisition, the trio did something unusual. Rather than rushing into another startup, they spent nearly six months studying different quantum computing technologies. They explored superconducting quantum computers, ion-trap systems and photonic computing before concluding that photonics offered the most practical path for India. Unlike superconducting quantum computers, which require temperatures close to absolute zero, photonic quantum computers operate at room temperature using light and optical components. That decision became the foundation of Quanfluence. To strengthen the venture, they brought together experts from both academia and industry. Professor Anil Prabhakar of IIT Madras, whose research on Optical Ising Machines formed the basis of the company's technology, joined as a co-founder. Professor Sandeep Goyal of IISER Mohali contributed expertise in quantum information theory, while former Arista Networks product leader Aditi Vaidya joined as Chief Product Officer.

Building quantum technology in Bengaluru

Quanfluence's technology takes a different approach from many global quantum computing companies. Instead of relying on individual photons as qubits, its system uses the electric field of groups of photons, an approach the company believes offers greater reliability and scalability. Its Optical Ising Machine currently handles 128 interconnected variables, while future versions are expected to solve significantly larger optimisation problems. The startup has already begun commercialising its technology through cloud access, with paying enterprise customers using the platform for complex computational workloads.

Why this matters for students

Quantum computing is widely regarded as one of the technologies that could transform fields such as drug discovery, logistics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and financial modelling. While countries around the world are investing billions of dollars in quantum research, India's ecosystem is still at an early stage. That makes stories like Quanfluence particularly significant. For engineering students, the founders' journey offers an important lesson: breakthrough innovation often comes from combining years of industry experience with the courage to learn something entirely new. They didn't begin as quantum physicists. They began as semiconductor engineers willing to spend months studying, questioning assumptions and exploring unfamiliar ideas. Their story is a reminder that lifelong learning may be one of the most valuable skills any engineer can possess. From designing semiconductor chips to building one of India's only commercial quantum computing platforms, the founders of Quanfluence have shown that sometimes the biggest innovations begin not in a laboratory—but with the willingness to become students again.